PM Imran Khan is lucky to get such a worthless Opposition: Sheikh Rasheed
October 18, 2021
- Rasheed says past governments and coronavirus situation are responsible for rising inflation in country.
- Says PDM has turned into a "dead entity."
- Says every Opposition claims that the government would be ousted soon.
ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed on Monday said that the government does not feel threatened by the Opposition at all because "it is spineless".
"In fact, Prime Minister Imran Khan is lucky that he got such a worthless Opposition," the interior minister said while speaking to the media in Islamabad.
Rasheed also reacted to the Opposition's criticism of the PTI-led government due to the rising inflation in the country and said that the situation arose due to the policies of the previous governments as well as the coronavirus situation in the country.
Speaking about the Pakistan Democratic Movement — which is the Opposition's anti-government campaign — Rasheed said that the movement has turned into a "dead entity."
"This worthless Opposition has not been able to make any decision so far," he said, adding that the PDM had set out to oust the government last December but almost one year on, it is still planning to oust it without taking any concrete actions.
"This is how politics work in this country. Every Opposition claims that the government would be ousted soon," he said.
The minister admitted that the country has been facing rising inflation and said that the incumbent government could not be blamed for it as it was the faulty policies of the previous government that has led to the current situation.
To top it all off, the government had to tackle the coronavirus situation because of which inflation could not be controlled, he said.
He said that whenever he attends a cabinet meeting, he raises the issue of wheat and sugar crises in the country.
"PM Imran Khan is trying his best to reduce inflation this year," Rasheed said, adding that those who are leading a campaign against inflation are themselves "the biggest looters of this country."
He also cautioned PML-N's Vice President, Maryam Nawaz, and said that if she continued to target state institutions in her speeches, it would have "lasting consequences."
'Maryam digging her political grave with her statements'
A day ago, Rasheed had said that Maryam is "digging her political grave", referring to the often blunt nature of the statements she makes.
Rasheed's remarks, while speaking to the media, came a day after the Opposition's Pakistan Democratic Movement held a large public rally in Faisalabad's Dhobi Ghaat ground, where Maryam — who was representing the PML-N in the absence of party president Shahbaz Sharif — spoke at length in criticism of the current regime.
The minister warned Maryam that dragging the army into a debate at Dhobi Ghaat or Lahore's Mochi Gate will "result in a political smackdown similar to what occurs in a dhobi ghaat" (when clothes are beaten with sticks while washing them).
He said Maryam's moves to call out state institutions and speak against the country's leaders are "foolish".
"With these judo karate-like manoeuvres with the aim to slander (institutions), she is digging her political grave," he had remarked.
Rasheed said that Prime Minister Imran Khan is "going nowhere" and will complete his five-year term. He said that ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif, on the other hand, "hatched a plan to go to London" and is now "crying crocodile tears".
In the Faisalabad rally yesterday, Maryam had told the nation that the time for them to decide their future and to change their fate is now, as she sought their support to oust PM Imran Khan.
Speaking of the government's recent statement, whereby Minister for Information Fawad Chaudhry had remarked that the prime minister has the prerogative to appoint the Director-General of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), she said that it may very well be his prerogative to do so, but "electing the prime minister is the prerogative of the people".
"The people should first choose their own prime minister and then he may decide what to do," she said, adding: "Imran Khan is not an elected leader; he is selected."
Maryam also said that PM Imran Khan "carried out a suicide attack on a state institution for the sake of power"; his stance is "not for the Constitution".
She further said that the prime minister has "trampled the honour of the vote under his shoe", and warned him to not try to be a "political martyr".
"For your repeated oppression, the people are ready to 'take care of you," she added.
— Featured image: PID
